The Fighting Lie
by Sappira
Summary: Hai. This is my first ever story/fanfiction. It's an original It's about Alea, a 13-yr-old elf girl and she wants to join her best friend, Merth, in battle but cannot because she is a "giiiiiiiiirl." She disguises herself to look like a boy, taking the name Zain, and attempts to join the military after her village is destroyed on the very date of her 13th birthday.
1. Plotting

**Plotting**

Alea lay in her bed awake, yet again. She hadn't had barely any sleep in days, ever since the war started. All of her guy friends went to war except her because she was a _girl_.

'_Not fair!' _Alea thought. She was very proficient with the bow and crossbow but no one seemed to care. Her father was a general so Alea knew all about wars and tactics and such. She went to her now empty kitchen, and noticed a rather large package sitting on the counter.

She gasped at the contents. There was the most perfect, beautiful bow and arrows she had ever seen so it was definitely elven make. Under it was a note: "Dear Alea, hope you have been good lately! Sorry I couldn't be there for you birthday... Enjoy this gift made especially for you by me. JUST USE IT FOR DEFENCE AND DON'T YOU DARE COME OVER HERE OR I'LL KILL YOU! Just kidding. But seriously, don't! I don't want to see you get killed...

Happy Birthday, Merthmaw Jinkins"

Merthmaw, or as all of his friends call him–Merth, who was 14, was Alea's best friend until he recently had to go fight in the war. When Merth left, he distinctly commanded her _not_ to secretly join the army or anything, but that's exactly what she intended to do.

_'I hope I can see him again... those stupid humans! They mess __**everything **__up...'_Alea sighed. Nothing she could do now. The war started about four weeks ago, when a rather idiotic boy decided to poke one nasty, sleeping troll. The troll was in such a rage that he completely squished the idiotic boy. Peace between the elves, humans, dwarfs and trolls had been kept for years, maybe even decades... Rumors were spread, the story stretched and soon the word was that 30 men assaulted 20 trolls with knives and tried to slit their throats as the trolls were sleeping. 10 trolls died and all of the humans, dead. When the troll chief heard this he waged war on the humans, thus the war.

Alea checked the calender. It was day 136 of the second year of the fifteenth age. One days away from her 13th birthday. She wasn't in the mood for cheer and laughter. She needed to prepare for the escape and war ahead of her.

Alea looked at a nearby mirror. She ran her fingers through her long, unusual platinum hair. Most elves had black or brown hair, making her stand out.

_'If I'm to go to war then I'll have to cut almost all of it.' S_he thought with a singe of sorrow. She really did like her hair. _'Oh well... you gotta do what you gotta do...'_

Alea took the bow and exited her house in the intention of taking a walk to one of her best friends house to show her new bow off. As she passed her horse, Starshade, in front of her house, someone called out her name.

"Alea!" she looked over to see her neighbor, Mrs. Gailifern. "Where are you going?"

"To Abigail's house," she replied.

"Planning something? HMMM?"

"Of course! It is my birthday tomorrow."

"Well stay away from that dreadful war! Don't want you to get killed..."

Alea secretly rolled her eyes, waved goodbye and took off running to Abigail's house. It was larger than need be since only Abigail and her sister lived there, both of her parents left to help with the war. Alea knocked at their door and Abigail's older sister, Elwen, opened it.

"Oh! Hey Alea, whats up? Come on in! I'm sure you want to talk to Abigail right? Shes upstairs in her room. I'm sure she will be delighted to see you."

"Thanks, I'll go right up."

Right away Alea ran to the upstairs to the last door on the right and knocked.

"Who is it?" Abigail yelled.

"Alea. Can I come in?"

"Come right in! I want to show you something!"

Alea entered Abigail's room and immediately fell down under the weight of Abigail's big dog, Jonesnare. He was a mix of golden, white and brown with a black dot on his eye.

"Jonesnare! GET OFF HER!" Abigail commanded. Jonesnare slid off Alea and lay down on his fluffy dog bed. She smacked him on the head. "Bad dog! I'm sorry about that. He gets a little existed around company. Anyway, what I wanted to show you was this collar I got for him." she pointed to a thick band made out of some kind of scales. "Its snake scales."

"It's really shiny! Never seen a more pretty dog collar. Now it's my turn to show you something!" Alea opened a box to reveal the bow and arrows she got earlier. "Merth made it. Isn't this a beautiful bow? Can't wait to practice with it!"

"Ooo! It is beautiful! Hey! Want to try it out now? I do need some meat and I'm sure you might need it for your birthday celebration." Abigail said excitedly.

"That's true. Lets go then!"

After that being said the two girls got ready and went off. The forest was infested with poisonous spiders so they avoided those. They were watching for any plump deer and rabbits, looking for tracks and trails left behind by their prey's footsteps.

"Look! There are some deer's tracks! Pretty fresh-looking too, about 15 minuets ago I think." Abigail whispered quietly.

Together they stealthily sneaked along, following the tracks. Soon Alea and Abigail found a clearing with a herd of about ten deer, munching on some luscious, green grass.

A few arrows flew. They all hit their targets with precision, leaving two bucks and one doe dead while the rest bound off in fear.

"Nice shooting" Abigail commented.

"Same to you" Alea said with a smile. "Er... I forgot a bag. Did you bring one?"

"Oh! Right! I brought one that could hold all three of these."

Abigail took a huge bag out of her pack. She and Alea crammed their game into the bag. Afterwords they sat down, panting at their effort. Abigail tied her brown hair into a tight bun.

"Whew! Didn't know cramming deer into a bag was such hard work!" She gasped. They both started giggled uncontrollably. "Want to eat a bit before we haul this thing?"

"Sure. I'm pretty hungry and after cramming those deer I could use a rest. What do you got?"

"Well..." Abigail said as she looked through her pack. "Bread, some dried meat and some cheese."

"Sounds good."

Abigail and Alea found a dry patch of moss to sit down and enjoyed a small snack. The trees around them look sort-of ominous but to the girls it was just normal. The trees had all kinds of vines and moss hanging off of them and many eyes, that belonged to bats, birds and who-knows-what, watching the girls from inside the trees.

After a long while, Alea stood up and said, "Well I think we should be off I suppose? We've been lingering longer than we should."

Abigail agreed, so they picked up the heavy bag and started to drag it. In a few hours they arrived at Abigail's house, very tired. Elwen opened the door for them.

"What did ya get?" She asked.

"Three deer. Pretty impressive eh?" Abigail bragged.

"Yep! That's the most you've got yet! Y'all better go get them skinned and ready to cook. Come on inside I'll help ya."

The three girls went inside and started to skin, debone and clean the deer.

"I'll take one of these back to my house to cook." Alea decided. "I'm pretty tired as it is, so see you tomorrow."

They said their goodbyes after Alea packaged her meat and went out the door. As she walked back she pondered the days to come. Her birthday, how she's going to escape and what she's going to do after she escapes.

_'I will use my maps. Mr. Howlaris said the army is almost to Gamalof. That gives me about a week to get there in time. I guess I can't use Alea as my name when I get there especially if I see Merth. Hmm... Alex. That's a nice name. I have almost everything prepared...'_


	2. One Flashback and a Very Ruined Party

**Flashbacks and a Very Ruined Party**

_Blood was everywhere. Alea was in the thick of battle. Trolls and giant spiders were slashing at the humans, elves and dwarfs. She looked around. Beside her was Merth and her friend Howard. Out of no where, arrows zinged between Merth and Alea._

"_Watch out! Those arrows almost hit one of you!" Howard yelled. Merth just rolled his eyes._

_A troll charged Alea, raising a huge hammer in his hand, about to crush her. Before it hit its mark, Merth swung his two-handed sword right into the troll's arm, severing it. Alea turned around to thank him but he wasn't there. She looked down. Merth was on the ground down, with a arrow in his chest, limp and lifeless. _

"_Merth!" Alea cried, distressed. Then she herself fell to the ground after feeling a impact on her head. She saw Howard leaning over her, yelling. Next thing she knew, everything turned black, the world falling beneath her._

Alea awoke from her nightmare, crying, panting and sweating. It was so vivid that she almost thought it was real. That she and Merth was dead.

_'Just a stupid nightmare Alea. Pull yourself together!' _She thought, still weeping. Alea looked out her nearby window to find it raining very hard. '_If I am to have my birthday party today, then it will have to be inside. Pity.' _

After staring at the sky for a while, it suddenly reminded her of the night Merth left. Yes, she could remember that dreadful night quite clearly. Memories started to flood through her mind.

_It was night, every one was asleep. Alea had heard a noise coming from the floor below, like as if someone had broken something. She rushed down to make sure it wasn't a theif only to find Merth, bags packed and in armor, trying to clean up broken glass from a flower pot he knocked over._

"_Where do you think you're going?" Alea exclaimed._

"_Uhh, Out...?" Merth said in a shaky voice._

_Alea rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in a sarcastic manner. "Oh just out for a stroll? Come on Merth I'm not an idiot. Truth. Now!" _

"_Fine, fine. I guess since you caught me I'll give you that. Stupid flower pot..." Merth said as he brushed more glass away. "As you might have heard, a war has started. A really big one. They needed everyone they could. Sorry?"_

"_Don't you 'Sorry' me. You didn't even say goodbye... So, you were just going to make me worried sick, __my best friend leaving me to _**rot**_? Or did you leave a message at lest telling where you were going?"_

_He looked down in dismay. "No, I didn't think you would understand. I know how much you would like to go with me, but you cant. You'd be dishonored by our country. You might die in the war, or get hurt and I just wouldn't be able to live with myself bringing you to that fate."_

"_Then just leave, get out of my house. If you cant trust me, why should I trust you? Just leave now, get out of my sight." At that she turned around and started to walk away._

"_Alea, don't say that!" Merth cried, "I do trust you, I really do, I just didn't know how you would react... Come on, lets just start over. This time I'll do it right. I promise."_

"_Fine." Alea returned, facing him. "But this time at least say goodbye."_

"_Alright, alright," Merth said as he took a large breath. "Alea, I have been recruited into the army by force. This was _**not**_ my idea, I'm sorry. A huge war has started between us, the Humans, the Dwarfs, and many others, against the Trolls, Goblins and many other rotten beasts. We have heard from the Dragons that they stay neutral, until further notice. So I must go, I wish I could take you with me but it's too risky, they might find out and I don't you getting hurt... and don't DARE come after me._

"_Farewell, Alea Frisk, I'm sure we will meet again. Hopefully I will have all my limbs when that happens." They both laughed and hugged, their laughter soon turning into tears. _

"_I'll miss you, _Merthmaw Jinkins,_ and don't _**YOU**_ dare doubt that for one second."_

"_I will too..." Merth picked up his bags and left, leaving Alea all by herself. She cried for hours back in her room, hoping with all her heart that he would not be badly harmed._

Alea suddenly snapped from her day-dream, returning to the present. She looked one more time out her window_._

Alea heard a knock on her door. Startled, she ran downstairs and opened the it. It was Abigail.

"Alea! Happy Bi-" Abigail stopped with a concerned look on her face.

"What?" Alea said, also concerned.

"You're face is all red! Been having those nightmares again?"

"I did. Just about the war, nothing to worry about..."

"Very well. Anyway, Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks."

"Finally turning thirteen. Caught up with me, eh?"

"Yep... Well, come on in! I'll make some tea." Alea said as she beckoned her friend to the door.

Soon the two friends where sipping delicious tea and re-telling stories from when the land was peaceful, when Merth, Howard and their other, lesser friends where still in their little village.

"I remember the day we met Howard," Alea said "That was two years ago. I think you were sick that day, so you weren't there. Merth and I had gone hunting, right? We got stuck in that forest surrounded by those dreadful spiders. Thankfully Howard was there, slew them all!"

"Yeah I remember you telling me."

"Humans are so silly." Alea said. "Only lives to be less eighty years old! But they are remarkable for all the things they can do in such a small time."

"So true! And look at Howard. No, wait. Don't. Hes a bad example, even if he killed those spiders." Abigail giggled. "Hmm. How about their king? Hes _**remarkable**_. Hes must be good at negotiating to have reasoned with the trolls a few years back."

"Yes, King Tallard is a rather knowledgeable one. I just hope he can end this war before his life runs out."

Alea and Abigail sat there for a while, talking about the war, Alea's birthday plans and such. For the elves, birthdays in the first century where celebrated every year, but afterwords just every ten or hundred years and at some point forgotten all together. Being older wasn't all that bad, but looked up to for precious wisdom. But elf children had a certain power, a certain glowthat seemed to disappear in later years, making them more useful in battle. They were allowed to join the army when they were 13 years of age but humans were not the same and the minimum age was 16.

"We better head to the gathering hall to get it all decorated and stuff" Alea said.

"Oh my gosh! Yes, we have tarried here far too long."

The two elves started to run towards The Gathering Hall to escape the downpour when out of no where an arrow flashed past Abigail, almost hitting her. Startled she stepped back and looked around but there was no sign of the attacker.

"What was that?" Alea asked, with a very alarmed voice.

"I don't know!" Abigail gasped. "We better get inside before-"

Abigail was cut off my another slew of arrows but this time one of them hit it's target. Alea fell to the ground clutching the arrow in her side.

"Alea!" Abigail cried. "Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, sure I'm doing fine, just got an arrow in my side!" Alea said in a sarcastic tone. "Go in my house, and get my bow. Then get me to the doctor before I bleed to death."

Abigail ran back inside Alea's house and started to search frantically for the bow. Alea, still lying in the middle of the road, examined the arrow. _'Not a barbed arrow by the looks of it.'_ So she pulled it out easily and began to examine it more. It looked very primitive to her eyes. She then realized that this was Troll made. _'They must be the Trolls! No one else would use these arrows.'_

After much searching Abigail finally found the precious quiver, slung it on her shoulder, and started to make her way back to Alea. _'We don't have any military here! They are all at the war! I need to find that blasted bell, to warn everybody! But we haven't even seen these attackers, and they might have left already, hopefully. But why would they do that? They are obviously here to kill us all.'_

"Trolls!" Alea yelled as soon as Abigail got into earshot. She held up the arrow that hit her. "This arrow was made by Trolls. Why would anyone else use this kind? I saw one while you were gone! It was holding a torch, I think they will try to burn the village. Thank goodness its raining."

Abigail ran over to Alea and started to pick her up. "Can you walk? I'll be here to give you support."

"I think so," Alea replied. "I feel... weak. It hurts so much. But I will try. Well this really ruined my birthday."

With much effort, together they stumbled to the medical building, almost being hit by a few sharp arrows on their way, and burst into the lobby. The doctor, fortunate she was there because most of them left for the war, was at her desk and looked up from some medicine in alarm.

"What do you need, children?" she asked.

"The Trolls are here! Alea has been shot! You need to help her. I'm going to go ring the bell!"

The lobby room had a few chairs where patients could sit and wait. Abigail placed Alea in one of them and ran out of the building going towards the bell. The doctor got up from her seat walked over to Alea, with some medical supplies in hand. _'Why are the Trolls here? I thought they were all in Trenor fighting our army!' _she thought.

"Mrs. Dalon? Is that you? My eyesight's so blurry..." Alea whispered. "I can barely think..."

"Yes it's me. Where your wound? Do try to not talk."

Alea lifted her hand off her side and pointed where the arrow hit her. "The Trolls are here." she said solemnly.

"Hush, Hush. I know. Try to rest." Mrs. Dalon opened her bag and pulled out some rolls of cloth. She looked very concerned. The doctor started to spin the cloth around Alea's wound. When she was finished, a loud ringing sounded throughout the village. "Stay here for now, don't come out. Where it hit you punctured part of your-" she cut herself off. "Well, lets just say, it's bad. Don't try to move too much."

Everyone stepped outside their houses. Most children were screaming and some seemed to not even understand the gravity of the situation, just standing without a care in the world wondering why everyone was so scared. Some even kept on playing their games, and kept on giggling at their own corny little kid jokes.

"Mommy what's wrong?" one little child asked his mother, who was running around the house searching for a weapon.

"Stay inside the house, don't come out until I get you!" she ordered. "Its going to be okay, its going to be okay..."

Abigail, still having the bow on her shoulder, ran over to her house. She went into her sister's room to find her sleeping. _'Only my sister could have slept through that ringing.'_

"Wake up! Trolls are attacking the village!" She screamed in her Elwen's ear.

"Huh...? Go away! Get out of my room! I'm trying to sleep, cant you tell?" Elwen said as she started to drift back into her slumber.

Abigail nudged and poked her saying, "Do you just feel like dieing by Trolls? Get up now! Alea has already been shot! WAKE UP!"

Elwen sat up. "What? Trolls? Here? Impossible, our army would never let them near our land."

"Well they're here, so get up, grab a weapon and help us! Or you could just stay here and be killed. Your choice."

"Fine! I'll get up. I broke my bow a week ago, can I use yours?"

"Yeah, I have Alea's and I don't think she'll be fighting anytime soon."

Elwen got up, left her room and took up Abigail's bow and a hunting knife. _'Stupid Trolls, just cant let me sleep!'_ By the time she got out of her house, Trolls had flooded the streets, trying to set fire to houses. The rain had almost stopped and it now was reduced to a light drizzle.

"Alright, Trolls, you killed my... uhh... sleep! prepare to die!" Elwen challenged as she started to charge.

"Quiet, Jonesnare, Quiet!" Abigail ordered her barking dog. She put attached a rope to his new collar and led him outside. Once he saw the Trolls, Jonesnare barked his head off. Abigail managed to make him quiet and led him to the forest, and tied him to a tree, out of sight. "I'm going to muzzle you, don't chew on this rope! I'll get you after it's over." She put a muzzle on her dog to make sure he didn't attract the Troll's attention.

Abigail then returned to the village where Elves and Trolls collided in battle. Bodies of both race littered the ground, but most of them were Elves. They were outrageously outnumbered. Abigail guessed that there were about one hundred Trolls but only about fifty Elves. _'We'll never make it. There's too many of them!' _Abigail was in despair. There was almost no way out. She walked through the road, checking pulses of fallen Elves. Most were dead, both women and children, all the men were at the war. Those that were alive, had dire wounds. _'Those _**monsters**_! Killing helpless little children!' _Hate started to well up in her. She knew all of these dead faces.

Hatred in her heart, Abigail loosed a flock of arrows at a troll and most of them met their target. It turned around in anger, roared and began to charge. The troll slung it's huge two-handed ax at Abigail, but being a swift elf she is, she easily jumped out of the way and let out another heap of arrows, one struck it in the heart, killing the troll instantly. She kept on in this manner, sometimes using a small sword she had with her, until she began to tire. Panting, she decided to check on Alea and flung herself into the medical building Abigail left her in. There she found Alea resting on the floor with the doctor examining her wounds and many others were in the room, moaning in pain. Alea looked up at noise of Abigail's arrival.

"How are we doing out there?" she asked.

"Not well," Abigail answered. "We're outnumbered, and they managed to set some houses on fire. We will have to flee if we will have any chance of survival."

"I need to get out there!" Alea said as she sat up.

"What you need is to rest." the doctor said, pushing her back down. "I don't think you will be going anywhere any time soon. Not while I'm here."

"Oh come on!" Alea yelled, sitting up again. "I don't feel that bad anymore! I could be helping! You could then just look at others, for they are in much more need than me."

"No. Just listen to me. If you try to go and fight you will lose too much blood and be too weak to do much good."

Alea lay back down "Fine. But tell me as soon as you think I can fight."

Abigail said her goodbyes and left. To her horror, almost no alive elves could be seen and the village was on fire since the rain had stopped. She stood outside the medical building attacking trolls that came near trying to set it on fire. Abigail felt a hard knock on her head and fell to the ground. Everything turned black.

Elwen had been battling trolls for what felt to her like forever. _'How many of these things _**are**_ there? I need to rest.' _She ran over to the woods and found a nice tree out of the way, that just so happened to be the one that Abigail tied jonesnare to. _'Maybe I'll just sit here for a while. I'm so tired...'_

She sat down and groaned from her wounds. Elwen hadn't noticed them until now. '_I need to find bandages...' _But before she could manage to get up, Elwen passed out, from both fatigue and blood loss.

The smell of smoke began to get stronger in the medical building. Alea started to see flames grow on the door.

"They're burning the building!" she yelled.

"I don't think we can get everyone out in time." Mrs. Dalon said. "Now would be the best time to go in the basement. I will try to get as many people as I can down there."

"Alright."

Alea ran over to a door across the room and went down some stairs leaving the door shut. She came to a empty room, sat down and waited. Soon she could hear screams from the room above. _'They must have gotten inside! Oh please don't find me please, please please!' _The ceiling above started to cave in. Alea would have tried to escape, but wreckage blocked the door, and there was no other way out. So she sat, hoping nothing hit her. Hours passed with a deadly silence. After what felt like forever, Alea struggled to stay awake until she finally gave way as she drifted to much needed sleep.


End file.
